Jingle Bells

Level: TBD

Aims: vocabulary development, dictionary lookup skills, reading in context, exposure to American culture

Grammar: no grammar aims here

Time: 30 minutes

Materials: photocopies of the song, dictionary

Introduction: Jingle Bells is a traditional Christmas song.

Have the students read the song silently for 10 minutes, using their dictionaries. Then, go around the classroom, having students recite paragraphs from the text aloud. Work on fluency in recitation. Next, go through Text of the Song with Notes, and follow this with Discussion Questions.

Text of the Song

Jingle Bells

Dashing through the snow,

In a one-horse open sleigh,

Over the fields we go,

Laughing all the way.

Bells on bob-tails ring,

Making spirits bright,

What fun it is to ride and sing

A sleighing song tonight!

Jingle bells, jingle bells!

Jingle all the way!

Oh, what fun it is to ride

In a one-horse open sleigh!

Text of the Song with Notes

Jingle Bells

• Discuss Christmas carols, how Europeans traditionally form groups of singers, and walk around their neighborhoods at Christmas time, singing for people
• Sing the song for the students. Have the students sing the song.
• Dictionary lookup: jingle
• Dictionary lookup: bell

Dashing through the snow,

• Dictionary lookup: to dash

In a one-horse open sleigh,

• Dictionary lookup: sleigh.
• “What do you think an ‘open sleigh’ is?”

Over the fields we go,

• Dictionary lookup: field

Laughing all the way.

Bells on bob-tails ring,

• Dictionary lookup: bob-tail. “This is an old English word. You can tell this is an old song, because it talks about riding in a sleigh. Most Americans don’t even know what a ‘bob-tail’ is any more, but they still sing this song.”
• Dictionary lookup: to ring
• Discuss how bells on a sleigh would be ringing and jingling as the horse dashes across the snowy field.

Making spirits bright,

• Dictionary lookup: spirit
• Making spirits bright: “What do you think this means?”

What fun it is to ride and sing

A sleighing song tonight!

Jingle bells, jingle bells!

Jingle all the way!

Oh, what fun it is to ride

In a one-horse open sleigh!

Discussion Questions

1. What is this song about? What is the story of this song?
2. Discuss how certain things are traditionally associated with Christmas, such as bells, snow (“white Christmas”), and carols. Draw parallels with the students’ native culture if possible. Point out how this song describes people in a festive Christmas spirit (“making spirits bright”), and how traditionally, Christmas is the happiest time of year.